Cap. VIII Arg. 2 Resp.: twofold hate — vengeance vs less love; Vasquez; Leah
Lastly — and this breaks the nerve of the argument — God may be said to have hated Esau in two respects. First, hated unto vengeance and the punishment of eternal death: so he hates Esau only as a sinner, and for sin itself as moving and demeritorious cause. Second, hated unto denial of some special not owededed benefit — that is, loved less: so he can hate Esau only because he does not will to love him. In that latter sense the Apostle says God loved Jacob and hated Esau: by the freest purpose of his will he chose to soften Jacob by special grace, and refused Esau that great benefit. Why choose Jacob for that grace and not Esau? Because God so willed. Why so will? A foolish question — you seek a cause of the divine will in preparing and distributing gratuitous goods beyond the will itself. That hatred here means mere denial of special love in conferring a special benefit, even the Jesuits grant. Vasquez on these very words: to hate is the same as to have loved less. He acts like one who hates who gives a gift to one and withholds it from another. Such hatred needs no sin as its cause. So Jacob is said to have hated Leah (Gen. 29:31).
Latin
Postremo (quod directe nervos hujus argumenti elidit) dico Deum posse dici odisse Esavum duplici respectu: Vel odisse ad vindictam et poenam aeternae mortis illi infligendam: atque sic non odit Esavum nisi qua peccatorem, et propter ipsum peccatum, ut hujus odii causam motivam et demeritoriam: Vel odisse Esavum ad specialis alicujus et indebiti beneficii negationem, hoc est minus dilexisse: et sic potest odisse Esavum, tantum quia non vult eum diligere. Hoc sensu posteriore dicitur Deus ab Apostolo dilexisse Jacobum et odisse Esavum, quia pro liberrimo voluntatis suae proposito voluit Jacobum emollire per specialem gratiam; noluit autem hoc tanto beneficio afficere Esavum. Si hic quaeratur quare elegit Jacobum ad hanc specialem gratiam, et non Esavum, respondetur, Quia Deus sic voluit. Si cur quaeratur quare sic voluerit, stulta est quaestio, quia Divinae voluntatis in bonis suis gratuitis praeparandis et distribuendis quaeritur causa, cujus nulla est praeter suam causam. Jam vero quod odii vocabulum usurpatur pro sola negatione specialis amoris in speciali beneficio conferendo, non diffitentur ipsi Jesuitae. Vasques ad haec ipsa verba Apostoli respiciens, Odisse, inquit, idem est quod minus dilexisse. Habet enim se ad modum odientis, qui aliquod donum quod uni dat, alteri non concedit. Sic tale odisse non requirit peccatum ut causam hujus odii. Hoc sensu Jacob dicitur odio habuisse Leam, Gen. xxix. 31.